Burgundy
by the only one
Summary: Moments before Vaughn and Alice's wedding, Vaughn receives a surprise guest. Vivaldi brings two agents literally closer than they had ever been, before their choices rip apart the fabric of their worlds.
1. Chapter 1

Burgundy-  
  
Sydney knocked on the door. She glanced around her to make sure there was no witness to what she was doing.  
  
On the other side of the door, Vaughn stood looking into floor length mirror and fixing his tie. When he heard the knock, he was expecting Weiss or a cousin, basically anyone except Alice. "Come in," he said, taking off the tie and folding it in his hands, sick of trying to fix it.  
  
Sydney opened the door halfway and stepped in. The shocked look on Vaughn's face disregarded, Sydney smiled. She walked in completely and shut the door behind her. "I disabled the security camera."  
  
"What? Where?" Vaughn's shock has momentarily flooded his system. Sydney was wearing a burgundy strapless dress, and her hair is lusciously curled. Vaughn blinked a couple times before setting his tie on the table behind him.  
  
"Outside." She hesitated before adding, "I have a flight in half an hour, but I couldn't leave without saying congratulations."  
  
"Uh, thanks." Vaughn was still jarred by her presence, but it was a feeling he was used to. Every time they were in a room together, be it Mikro Self-Storage or his office, there was a jitter in his stomach that he had been covering up for so long that he forgot it happened. However, right now the jitter felt like a lion hyped up on adrenaline.  
  
They stood awkwardly for a few more seconds, before Sydney said what she had really come to say. "I know we can't be tied together; that's why I disabled the camera." She was at an unbelievable loss for words. Sydney couldn't remember ever being this nervous. "I know I wasn't invited—I couldn't come even if I was. I—Well, I just wanted to dance. At all the weddings I've been to, my favorite part has been the groom's dance." She smiled slyly for less than a moment; Vaughn didn't know that she usually made fun of the groom for getting married before she did. But that had been before Danny. She rid her mind of the thought and continued. "So, I guess I should ask you formally."  
  
Sydney walked up to Vaughn until she was only a few feet away. She held out her right hand and said, "Would you like to dance?"  
  
Vaughn broke out in a grin, relaxed. "Sure." He took her hand with his left and placed his other hand on her waist. Sydney put her left hand on his shoulder. There was almost a foot between their bodies, and they were looking past each other's shoulder.  
  
"Awkward moment number fifty-four..." Vaughn said. Sydney laughed and shortened the distance between them. She started humming Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Vaughn joined her after a few measures. They swayed to the beat they created.   
  
Midway through the song, Sydney found her body pressed against Vaughn's. His hand was resting in the small of her back, and she was surprised that she hadn't felt it slide over. She missed a few notes but started humming again seconds later. She listened to Vaughn next to her.  
  
Vaughn felt Sydney press her cheek against his and exhale. The almost invisible stubble on his cheeks scratched her and a chuckle in her throat made its way into his ear. Vivaldi's composition had been lost minutes ago, yet they continued moving to music just as present as the lingering thoughts exclaiming that they shouldn't be doing this.  
  
Sydney felt a tear slide down her face as she remembered that she would never be able to do this again. After today, and before she got back from South Africa, Vaughn would be a married man. She shut her eyes so no more tears could show themselves.  
  
What scared both of them the most was how absolutely comfortable they felt. Just standing this close, hand in hand, feeling the heat both emitted—nothing felt out of place. Except the feeling that caused them to jump apart when they heard a voice behind them.  
  
Weiss stared, the door shutting itself with help of his hand. "What are you—"  
  
"Nothing, I was just congratulating Vaughn," Sydney quickly answered, looking right at Weiss. She wiped away the remains of the tear on her cheek. "I'll see you both when I get back." She gazed into Vaughn's eyes and added, "Congratulations, again," as she left the room.  
  
Door safely closed, Weiss burst. "What were you thinking? You're getting married! You, remember?"  
  
"I remember, Weiss. It's not something you easily forget."  
  
"Neither was what you were doing."  
  
"What I was doing? It was just a dance. A harmless little dance."  
  
"Yeah, I'm sure it was."  
  
"What's wrong with it?"  
  
"I'll tell you what's wrong: you are getting married in less than an hour, and I walk in and find you with Sydney, of all people?"  
  
"What's wrong with Sydney?"  
  
"The fact that you two have had feelings for each other about as long as she's been working with us."  
  
Uncomfortable, Vaughn changed the subject. "Why did you come in here? I didn't hear a knock or anything."  
  
Weiss didn't want to go with the flow, but he did, for his friend's sake. Ignoring the second comment, he spoke. "The security camera outside your door was disabled. The last thing it caught was a flash of burgundy." 


	2. Chapter 2

Burgundy-  
  
As Vaughn stood at the front of the church, he felt oddly nauseous. He kept shifting his weight and unclenching his hands behind his back, as well as unconsciously touching his ring finger to make sure nothing was there yet.  
  
Weiss beside him knew what was going on but didn't dare say anything while Vaughn's mic was on. He turned a bit and motioned for Vaughn to take the tiny speck of black off. In his peripheral vision, Weiss could see Vaughn unclip the mic from his jacket and place it in his pocket. His hands were shaking, trembling just slightly.  
  
"What?" Vaughn asked, almost breathless. Weiss turned to stare him in the eye.  
  
"Relax," he barely murmured. "Sydney's almost ready."  
  
Vaughn immediately relaxed. Then, he realized what Weiss had really said and he tensed once more. He could feel his forehead moistening and wiped it with the back of his hand.  
  
"What are you doing? Man, how do you forget the woman you're marrying, because I sure don't want to do it when the time comes."  
  
"If the time ever comes."  
  
"Why the cynicism? You can't be mad at me because I walked into your little dance party, are you? You are."  
  
Behind him, Vaughn put the microphone back on to his jacket. He covered it with his hand and said, "It was not a dance party, and I cannot figure out why it's bothering you so much."  
  
"Isn't it obvious?"  
  
Vaughn stood rock steady, not moving a muscle. Weiss couldn't tell if he was angry or nervous, the locking of all his joints necessary so he didn't fall over.  
  
"I know it's obvious because if it's obvious to me then you figured it out ten minutes ago. Oh, that's right—ten minutes ago you were in your room with Sydney."  
  
"Sydney—" Vaughn started angrily, ready to tear Weiss to pieces without anyone else finding out. However, Vaughn had forgotten to cover his mic, so everyone in front of them heard a loud "Sydney" as well. And, people being people, everyone stared.  
  
"Great honeymoon spot," Weiss replied, just loud enough for the first row of people to hear. In the corner of his eye, he saw their friend Craig stand and leave his place. One by one, other agents left the building. Suddenly, Weiss felt a weird vibration on his chest. He scratched it and realized that it was his phone. He walked off to the side—much to the surprise of the people watching him—and flipped his phone open. "Weiss," he said.  
  
"Agent Weiss, we have a problem," said an unfamiliar voice. Probably a junior officer who didn't know what was going on.  
  
"What is it?" he asked quickly.  
  
"Agent Bristow is missing." Kendall. Who else would call when he knew a third of the agency was at a wedding?  
  
"You're kidding! I just saw her less than half an hour ago."  
  
"Well, her flight left forty-five minutes ago, and she wasn't onboard. We've been trying to locate her, as is SD-6. Were you the last person to see her?"  
  
Weiss hesitated. Technically, Vaughn was. "Agent Vaughn was, but he's kind of busy."  
  
"Get him on the phone."  
  
"I don't think you understand. He's getting married. Right now."  
  
The junior officer spoke before Kendall could. "You mean Sydney's right there? We've gone to hell and back looking for her!"  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?" Weiss realized where he was and silently punished himself. He started to walk towards the exit. "I told you, she left a while ago."  
  
There was a beat of silence. Kendall and the other officer were obviously trying to figure out what exactly was going on.  
  
"I'll tell you what, Agent Weiss. Get Agent Vaughn on the phone."  
  
"Are you crazy? Did you not hear me say he was getting married?"  
  
"Get him on the phone."  
  
Weiss stopped and turned, almost at the door to outside the church. He put his arm up and motioned to Vaughn, who gave him an exasperated look and took a few steps off to the side. Weiss was not surprised. He walked all the way back to Vaughn and handed him the phone. "It's Kendall."  
  
Vaughn inhaled and exhaled deeply, getting the anger out of his system, before saying, "Vaughn here."  
  
"Okay Agent Vaughn, I have two things to tell you. First, the actions you will take will be completely under your discretion. I understand your situation." Only Kendall could call getting married a situation. "Agent Bristow is missing." Vaughn looked in the direction of the doorway Alice would walk through in a matter of minutes. He made his decision.  
  
"I'm coming." He put his mic and the phone in Weiss's outstretched hand and half-ran out of the church, his family and friends staring at his retreating figure. 


	3. Chapter 3

Burgundy-  
  
As Sydney Bristow stood in line to get through security at LAX, she didn't know that Michael Vaughn was speeding across the freeway after hijacking an ambulance.  
  
As tears slid down her pale cheek, she didn't know that he had jumped out of the moving ambulance just in front of the airport doors.  
  
As she passed through the metal detector, she didn't see him run to the other security check.  
  
-  
  
The woman working the x-ray machine was sympathetic. She told her that it would all be okay and—judging by Sydney's sleek, curve-hugging business suit that it had been a man who had moved her to tears—that he would rot in hell for leaving her.  
  
"Thank you," she managed, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, thinking that the other woman knew nothing of what really happened. A chocolate brown curl fell and blocked her vision, shocking her before she remembered that she had curled it for him.  
  
For him. How many of her actions are for him? How many of her thoughts are of him? How many times has she seen a couple walk past her and wish she was with him? He was the past.  
  
His marriage to Alice had been expected. After dating for years and living together for months, there wasn't much less expected of their relationship. Sydney had always hoped his torch for her would cause him to brush Alice aside, come to Sydney to tell her that she was the only woman for him. But that sort of thing only happened in sappy movies and romance novels.  
  
Wasn't her life like a sappy movie already? Woman living a double life within a double life after her fiancé is killed, but ever attracted to her new superior. All she needed was a bit of dramatic orchestral music and some rain, and it'd be a feature film.  
  
She pulled her small black carry-on behind her. It bounced as the ground changed from linoleum to carpet. After spending too much time sitting in her bathtub staring at the wall opposite her, she had remembered that she had a mission. Frantically packing, throwing on one of her own suits, she had made it to the airport just in time to miss her flight. The next, ironically, was twenty minutes later, causing Sydney to seriously wonder exactly how many people flew to South Africa on a daily basis. But she had had enough time to wait ten minutes in a line for the security check.  
  
And she discovered that ten minutes was just enough to reevaulate her entire situation and realize that she and Michael Vaughn had no chance of ever acting on their love for one another. The dance had been anything but harmless; both had felt the intense heat of one another. She only wished—  
  
She fell on a chair located in some random gate. She only wished she had kissed him. A tear drifted past her blinking eyelids, and another soon followed. Oh god how she wished she had kissed him and held him and kept him from—  
  
No. She sat up straighter and blinked the last of the tears out before roughly wiping them away, forgetting about her mascara. Vaughn had chosen to marry Alice, not Sydney. But it wasn't like that was even a possbility. She contemplated ruining the wedding and bursting through the doors as the priest said to "speak now or forever hold your peace." She knew that she couldn't hold her peace for a second, much less eternity. There was nothing left but to hold her head high and complete the mission in South Africa and return to the warehouse, discs in hand. And pretend like nothing had ever happened between them.  
  
-  
  
Vaughn pushed past people, searching for her face. For the second time that day, he was running on adrenaline and it was because of her.  
  
Angry voices exclaimed, his cell phone rang incessantly, but he kept running, hoping he would find a trace of her somewhere in the entire airport. Did he really think she was there? No. But the something inside that he knew was a connection between them told him that this was where she was.  
  
The echoes of his footsteps were all he could hear through the tumult of the airport. The white carnation in his lapel fell off, and he left it, along with his time spent with Alice.  
  
He had figured it out when he had jumped out of the ambulance. The love he had for Sydney was too dangerous to live for, but too addictive to live without. He knew that she felt the same way. Why else would she appear to only him dressed in that gorgeous burgundy with her hair in those curls that made him stop thinking? She knew.  
  
But right now, the only thing he could think of was her (when wasn't it?) and finding her and rescuing her from whatever horror she was going through. 


	4. Chapter 4

Burgundy-  
  
The conversations somehow were all speaking of the same thing. At first, she had wondered if she was hearing things, but after several mentionings of "the madman" and "running through the airport," she stopped and inquired.  
  
"Excuse me." Two stylishly dressed women eyed her bottom-up before settling on her face and smiling. "I'm sorry, I heard you talking about a guy running through the airport?"  
  
"Yeah, that's right." The one on the left started her sentence-long explanation of the events. "Some guy jumped out of an ambulance and is running through the airport like it's fun or something."  
  
"Oh." She wanted to ask if there was anything else, if the 'madman' was a handsome man with green eyes who upon seeing one labeled as the opposite of a madman, whatever that was. Instead she smiled, thanked them, and moved towards her gate. It was probably just someone who was off in the head. Security or the police will have gotten him before she saw him.  
  
-  
  
At first he had stopped every young woman he saw, assuming Sydney was wearing a wig. But when that wasn't giving results, his heart panicked and he grabbed at the wrist of brunettes of any age.  
  
"Why isn't anyone stopping him?" he heard someone say to his left. Oh god, no, don't stop me. I need to find her. I need to find Sydney.  
  
"Agent Vaughn!"  
  
He turned reflexively and stopped. "Craig?"  
  
"God, man, you gave us a helluva scare!"  
  
"Me? Have you found Sydney?"  
  
A flash of anger across Craig's face. "Sydney? Sydney is not your responsibilty, Vaughn. She is her own person, and if—"  
  
"What if she's been kidnapped? If there's a madman holding a gun to her head somewhere?"  
  
"She's not here, Vaughn! She has places to be, and she'll get there."  
  
"She is!" The finality of his voice shocked even Vaughn. "She's here, Craig."  
  
"What do you have some sort of telepathic connection?" he asked sarcastically. "She's not here, man. We've got agents panning the entire building. You need to get back to your wedding."  
  
If people hadn't been stopping before, they were now. 'His own wedding?' 'That poor bride!' 'Damn that Sydney person!' 'Kidnapped?' 'Cool, a secret agent!' 'That lucky bastard, two women and I can't find one!'  
  
Vaughn pushed past Craig, still headed in his original direction. He forced the conversation from his mind and continued, grateful that LAX was U-shaped; that is, if one started in one door they would eventually end up at the other entrance. He stopped accosting random women and walked briskly, looking for the woman in the body he'd touched just hours earlier.  
  
-  
  
Her plane was already boarding when she reached the gate, so she gave the attendant her ticket and followed the other travelers aboard. Since she had made a last-minute flight change, she had had to pay for the ticket out of her own pocket (at the moment, there had been other things on her mind than calling SD-6 for a new ticket). She made her way to the back of the coach section.  
  
-  
  
He began to slow down, muscles tired but mind racing. There were an infinite amount of places for her to be in the airport. Yet there still was that thing in him, the thing stating that there was a possibility that she was not in the airport. And he was beginning to believe it.  
  
-  
  
The place departed, ascending quickly. Sydney sat reading a British Vogue she had picked up from Francie's pile of magazines in their living room. She laughed just as the plane jumped a bit; she was probably the only person she knew who read Vogue for the articles.  
  
-  
  
He sat in defeat, allowing no one to bother him though nobody came within ten feet of him. He leaned forward and buried his head in his hands, rubbing his eyes to keep from drifting to sleep. He refused to believe that she could be on a one way flight to anywhere in the world.  
  
-  
  
Sleep wanted to claim her, steal her from consciousness. But she couldn't—wouldn't. Dixon didn't know that she was still coming. She looked out the window, trying to keep her eyes open by watching the sun set from highlighter yellow to dark burgundy to a velvety blue. She gasped inwardly at momentary realization; nobody knew where she was. 


End file.
